LG Optimus 2 X, yet just another Android smartphone? Not at all. The constructor is the foot of nose Samsung or HTC in marketing the first mobile with Nvidia Tegra 2 architecture. Fasten your seat belts, we will put the gas with this test of the LG Optimus 2 X…

More : exceptional power, adapted to the game, big screen, reading and video recording FullHD, video output HDMI FullHD, finishes
Less : average autonomy, already obsolete version of Google Android, yet few optimized software, eventually heating

LG Optimus 2X P990 Reviews LG Optimus 2X P990 Reviews

The year 2010 has not been stingy in Mobile Android but geeks remained on their hunger. To hand, variants of OS, graphical surcouches of each brand, is the qualitative leap of the iPhone 4 over its predecessor.

The 2011 year started well. Further announcements on fairs (graphical processor Tegra 2 at Mobile World Congress), the presentation of the LG Optimus 2 X we had strongly interested. On paper, it was richly with, spraying and other smartphones.

In the out of its box, it is at first a little disappointed. Is no astonishing design, LG job however of beautiful materials such as plastic with its touch velvet (like on HTC) and a metal strip on his back.

Before the battle of the thinness, Optimus 2 X also plays the ugly duckling. It displays 147 g on the balance against 135 g for an HTC Incredible. Its dimensions are higher than the latter.
But LG has sought to minimize the thickness accepting a slight outgrowth (unlike the Incredible S) marking the location of the objective and preferring tactile keys based with the screen rather than mechanical keys.

Screen and Tegra 2

So far, nothing much original. The capacitive LCD 4 inch is him, the more remarkable. It is certainly nor technology Retina as iPhone 4 (higher pixel density), or AMOLED (better rendering of colors), but it shows above average. Its resolution of 800 pixels high on 480 pixels wide is sufficient to look at the majority of web sites, or view Office documents.

In this connection, it is a launch multiple applications sequentially, Optimus 2 X continues to be reactive in its startup. The explanation comes from the unprecedented implementation of Nvidia Tegra 2 platform. Fondeur, graphics specialist, has developed an electronic architecture specifically for mobile. It consists of a smart hosting a dual-core ARM Cortex 9 processor, support by a GPU class GeForce ultra low consumption.

In figures, Nvidia demonstrates that this revolutionary chip provides 1.7 times more power than a single mono-core ARM Cortex 9 processor and even 2.5 times faster than an ordinary mobile processor in calculating JavaScript (so web browsing). In practice, we could see a faster loading, especially with complex and/or videos with Flash pages.

Power maxi-male

Before a such power monster, we bombed the LG Optimus 2 X in a series of benchmarks to test its effect (see all benchmarks).

Everywhere, this smartphone explodes scores, far better competitors (Google Nexus S particularly). 2601 Points (against 1476 point on HTC Incredible S) with Quadrant are particularly persuasive. It remained however to verify such statistical practice. Stop the suspense, the multimedia experience is atomic.

By playing with Ultimate Spiderman Total Mayhem, Dungeon Defenders or Shrek Kart, “little games” is 2D reserved for papa phones (see the games in our gallery of images). It enjoys a close experience of a PSP. The modeling of characters, sets with shadows, lights, particle effects are beautiful. The never seen on Android or other mobile platforms.

Unimportance however this craze. On the one hand, all the games or software are not yet party (main processor) CPU dual-core or GPU (graphic processor). We therefore invite you to download the Tegra Zone application (available on the Android Market) to dispose of optimized software. On the other hand, the Optimus 2 X turns for the moment with Android 2.2.3 aka Froyo. But this version is not the last (2.3 Gingerbread), or the less demanding resources. Attention therefore to the farm for intensive game. With its battery 1500 mAh, this LG mobile is still 2 days with WiFi enabled.

Equipment audio-photo-video high definition

The integration of this Tegra 2 chip is not without effect on the multimedia capabilities of this smartphone. To appeal to the marketing department and match its competitors, LG incorporates a sensor 8 million pixels. Behind this figure, there is a quality photo and video, average, worthy of a 5 megapixel camera. However, several settings are very sympathetic, even unpublished. The Optimus 2 X becomes a true photophone with the possibility to change the balance of the whites (cloud, Sun,…), add artistic effects (negative, relief, vivid…), affect a blur back to focus on faces, or even better to make panoramic pictures, with (digital) stabilization.

In video, creativity is also in the spotlight with similar functions, but this is not the most significant. (The interface offers to record video clips in Full HD (1920 x 1088 pixels) 3GP). The never seen on mobile. Video quality touch with handheld cameras. When we know that the Tegra 2 accepts cameras with a resolution of 12 megapixels, the margin of evolution is still important…

Always with this chip, the mythical bar of 720 pixels is crossed. Thus, the videos AVI, H263, H264, MPEG4/Divx in 1920 x 1080 resolution are readable, but not those encapsulated in MKV. Theoretically, watch a Full HD video on a small phone screen has no great interest, and yet there is the difference report with a HD Ready (720 p) video, in the details.

However, the LG Optimus 2 X tire party to read because of its micro HDMI output Full HD videos. The mobile becomes fair reader! Thus can read YouTube HD videos (up to 1080p) or play great simply on its LCD/plasma.

And the rest?

If the main interest of this smartphone is in its power, island should not forget its other specificities. LG has added a wrapper chart less effective than HTC or pretty as Sony Ericsson, but interesting. You can thus create classes of applications and classify them in different ways. Found in applications, a program to access content from a device (TV, box,…) compatible DLNA WiFi or Fsecure (mobile anti-virus). It regrets, however, that LG networking (FaceBook, Twitter and MySpace) applications offer fewer opportunities (profile/status change) than the original.

To go even further, you can visit our gallery of images, the LG Optimus 2 X step.

LG Optimus 2 X is not the best or the most compact, but it is undeniably the most powerful smartphone, any OS confused with its dual-core processor and its GPU capable of recording and play Full HD videos stored on card (accessible without removing the battery) or broadcast in streaming on the internet. A mobile to advise the players and for the impatient.